


Amber Rose

by Jarakrisafis



Series: Isana [4]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Dwarven Carta (Dragon Age), F/M, Orzammar (Dragon Age), Orzammar Culture and Customs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:29:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23637595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jarakrisafis/pseuds/Jarakrisafis
Summary: Just because she has a brand on her cheek doesn't make her stupid. Nor does it mean she can't play the game.And Rica Brosca doesn't intend to lose.
Relationships: Bhelen Aeducan/Rica Brosca
Series: Isana [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1568344
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Amber Rose

Rica Brosca knows that just because she can't read or write doesn't mean she's stupid. Just because she never knows what to say until it's too late doesn't mean she doesn't have an opinion. Just because she can't fight doesn't mean she's not strong. 

She has eyes and she knows to use them. She watches everyone as she begs, knowing which guards not to look at, and which might flick a copper her way if she looks pathetic enough. She masters a coy smile and a flutter of her lashes by watching the older girls.

It gets her noticed. Only time will tell if that's a good thing. 

Time has taught her patience and courage. And she smiles up at the branded thugs as she uses what talent she does have. She can ignore the hand in her hair, pulling her closer the same way she ignores the jeering from the rest of Beraht's higher up thugs who she sometimes entertains. They're her way out of the dust if she can show she's worth it.

Strength isn't just in the size of your muscles though sometimes she wishes she was stronger in body. Except Beraht likes her slender. Easy to push around. She smiles and learns to move with him. Because there's strength in enduring becuase it isn't yet time to make a move.

And one day he smiles, all teeth and insincerity as he tells her he has a plan. Her part, he says, is easy. She just has to use her charm on a Noble, he'll provide her the means to get close to them. Better for her than selling her body in a whorehouse for a few copper bits and being lucky enough for a higher rank to decide they like her enough to take her back to their home. Without him that would be the best she could have hoped for. With his connections though, she has access to so much more. Good fabric, accessories, and the most important thing, a rare pass into the lower levels of the Diamond Quarter.

For that alone she'll nod and agree to his plan. She can call him a favoured uncle if it's what it takes to also get Faren out of his ranks of bully boys.

Finding a Noble is no different than watching the guard to see who is worth trying her attentions on.

Beraht is of course impatient, he always wants results right way.

She won't be rushed though. What use would it be to birth a boy-child only to die in a mysterious accident soon after he's weaned. No, whoever she finds will have to be worth the effort. She already lives with a drunk and works for a controlling sadist. She wants neither of those traits in whoever she finds.

There's a few that catch her eye, mostly warriors. She'd be happy with that, but Beraht is set on Nobility so she smiles sweetly at the warriors and tell them she's waiting for somebody when they approach her.

She doesn't tell Beraht when she finds some one that catches her eye. It's too soon to tell if he's interested beyond the glances that he sends her way. She doesn't have the confidence to just go up to him. Not right away. She's told herself today will be the day she makes her move. She apparently wasn't the only one thinking that as they almost collide and she gives him a smile. A real one, not one of her fake pasted on expressions as he steadies her. He's even more handsome up close. Also younger than she expected, but he's old enough for her purposes.

"You've been watching me." His voice is like velvet and silk and she could listen to that for days.

She ducks her head, masters herself and gives him an abashed smile. "You are very handsome my Lord."

She can see the faint roll of his shoulders, the way he stands a little taller at the compliment and he brings a hand close to her face, slowly, as if he expects her to run at any moment. "And you are as pretty as a rose."

She dips her head again, hoping that was a compliment. She has no idea what a rose is. His fingers are gentle as he caresses her face, and he lifts her chin. "You are not waiting for anyone are you?"

"No my Lord." She says, sure he must be able to hear her heart beating as he drops his hand from her face to carefully curl round her fingers.

"Would you care to join me for the evening?"

She wants to shout, to jump around in joy. She does neither of those things. She gives him a wide smile and tightens her own grip on his hand, feeling callouses under her skin. She half expected his hands to be smooth for she's never noticed him pass by in armour like some of the Nobles do. "I would like that my Lord."

It isn't until they part that she finally gets a name from him. As he bids her farewell and hopes to see her again soon. She feels brave enough to look him in the eyes and tell him that much as she doesn't mind being called a rose, her name is Rica.

He laughs, but not as Beraht would, for there is nothing mean in the rumbling sound. "I think, all things considered, in private you have the right to call me Bhelen."

She spent that night, as she curled inside Faren's arms so she didn't fall off the side of the thin pallet they called a bed, wavering between exultation and disbelief. Her Noble isn't from any old Noble House. No, she's caught the eye of one of the Kings children.

She doesn't say a word to Beraht. Not yet. Not until she's sure Bhelen will continue to treat her well. Perhaps not even then will she speak up, not until she's with child and Beraht will know one way or another.

They continue to meet and each time she's more hopeful, more certain that he's the one. She becomes absolutely sure when he doesn't turn up one time. He's never missed a meeting before and she stays in her usual spot to wait, unsure if he's just late. She's almost ready to go when another Noble approaches her. She's ready to tell the usual, no longer lies that she's waiting for somebody when he speaks her name. Bhelen is with his father-King he explains, so he was sent to fetch her. She coaxes a name out of him, for he seems happy enough to talk with her as they walk through the Diamond Quarter. Vartag, she recalls, is a name she's heard often. At first she'd thought him a brother until Bhelen explained what Seconds were.

And now he sent his Second. His own bodyguard just to fetch her.

That's when she knows he's the one.

There's an orange rose beside a tray of cold meats and she smiles, recognising the surface flower this time, for it isn't the first one he's given her, and a note that she reads slowly. She can almost hear his voice reading beside her as she slowly works her way through unfamiliar combinations of letters. She laughs lightly when she reaches the end, reading it again and again until the letters are words and the words are stuck in her head. He wrote her a poem, a love letter.

She supposes it's time to tell Beraht that she's found somebody.

She's learnt to read now, not that she was stupid before, but it makes her feel special, that Beraht doesn't realise she knows more than she lets on. She's learnt that sometimes she doesn't need to say anything special of profound, just to be herself, Bhelen likes it when she says what she thinks and not what she expects him to want to hear. And he's taught her how to fight without a weapon. He's taught her that the main thing about fighting is to know your opponent and to find a weakness.

She knows Bhelen's weakness now. Its her. She'll tell him about Beraht's plan and she knows that one way or another the merchant will die.

Rica Brosca knows, strength is knowing what you have and using it. And in a game like this where you win or you die, she's going to win.


End file.
